Ramey pleads guilty, gets 27 1/2 years in prison

Pleaded to 4 of 22 counts

The Toledo man awaiting trial for killing his estranged girlfriend in Delta last year and kidnapping their child and her mother pleaded guilty Friday and was sentenced to 27 1/2 years in prison.

Facing a 22-count indictment, James C. Ramey, 28, pleaded guilty to:

• Count 5, murder, with a firearm specification, for a total of 18 years;

• Count 11, violating a protection order, with a firearm specification, for a total of 18 months;

• Counts 16 and 20, kidnapping, with firearm specifications, for a total of eight years.

He had originally been charged with: one count of receiving stolen property; two counts of aggravated burglary; an additional count of murder; two counts of aggravated murder; one count of attempted murder; one count of felonious assault; one count of aggravated robbery; four counts of abduction; four additional counts of kidnapping; and one count of possessing criminal tools.

Of the original 22 charges, 20 included firearm specifications.

Before sentencing, Ramey made a statement, which was followed by impact statements by family members of the victim, 23-year-old Amanda Mangas.

Fulton County Prosecutor Scott Haselman called Mangas’s death an unmitigated tragedy.

“A young woman was taken away from her young son, father, mother, family, and friends in an act of senseless violence,” he said in a statement. “While there is nothing that the judicial system can really do to fill the hole that was left in the lives of Amanda’s family and friends, we hope that today’s plea and sentence can help them in some small way with the difficult process of moving forward.”

Ramey’s attorney, David Klucas, said, ”The plea sort of speaks for itself.” He declined further comment.

Ramey was indicted following his forced entry into Mangas’s home at 901 Fernwood Ave. in Delta early in the morning of March 14, 2017. He shot Mangas in the chest, then fled the scene in a black Town and Country van with the estranged couple’s 10-month-old son, and Mangas’s mother, Deborah Mangas, whom authorities believed had gone unwillingly.

Mangas identified Ramey as the shooter while being treated at the scene by rescue personnel, according to authorities. She was transported to the University of Toledo Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Ramey was captured without incident about 10 a.m. the same day in Fulton County, Ind. Relatives arrived to take Mangas’s son and mother home.

At the time of Mangas’s murder, Ramey had a case pending in Fulton County Eastern District Court for violation of a protection order issued from Lucas County involving Mangas and their son.